Blur (XBLA Beta)

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Blur (XBLA Beta)

Friday, March 12, 2010

We Rate Stuff likes giving things away to nice people, so we're doing more of it. The Xbox Live beta for Blur, a new racing game authored by Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing) came out recently, and we have the codes you need to be able to play.

Reviewer
Kaitis
Categories
Games

Reviewed by Kaitis

Blur (Xbox Live Arcade Beta)

My jaw dropped open a little bit when I first opened up this racing game beta, mostly because of who made it; that Bizarre logo usually reminds me only of Geometry Wars, but then I remembered about Project Gotham. It's weird because they're seemingly done with the series, yet this game couldn't be less like PGR. This would really disappoint me if I was a fan of that series, but I personally don't like that game, and if you're like me you'll have a lot more fun with Blur.

The game feels like a bunch of popular games put together, but this formula works for them and makes the game more fun. It has the power-ups from Mario Kart on an engine much like Need for Speed with the experience system from Modern Warfare. You unlock vehicles as you rank up by damaging opponents, plus extra points depending on what position you come in. The cars questionably range from riced out hatchbacks to SUVs. The power-ups have their own little visual spin on them, although they perform just like they do in Mario Kart. Although unlike the aforementioned plumber racing, the maps you race on are quite boring. They include a Japanese city, an Italian city and an area with docks, basically levels you've practically already raced on. The most exciting one is a giant dirt ring, and that's only because you unlock a Demolition Derby playlist at rank 8. And after all the time it takes to gain that much experience racing on those same levels, you'll be happy with any extra variety.

Upon starting, you're given two playlists that are seemingly the same except one race is up to 10 players and the other is up to 20. I'll tell you right now though, you're an idiot If you don't try to play with 19 other racers. This game is absolutely at it's best when the rooms are full. The races are hectic and chaotic in every sense of the words. It's really evenly matched with that many people battling each other, but it makes races vary between exciting and frustrating. Plus once you have an idea where the booster power-ups are on each of the three race maps, you kind of have an unfair advantage over people who don't. One of the biggest problems I've been having with this beta is not being able to find a full room, but hopefully that's just because of the times at which I've been playing.

While I can't yet imagine paying 60 dollars for the full retail version of this game, the online portion is something I'm still having fun with even though I've hit the level cap of 10. The experience system, which they stupidly refer to as "fans", is a good way of progressing even though it feels really familiar. I still don't like it as much as Forza 3, or other realistic racing games, but it's a fun game with a low difficulty and learning curve. And even though it seems kind of gimmicky, it's still really fun to know 19 other people are sitting at home disappointed because you won the race.

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